PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government on Monday unveiled its sixth consecutive annual budget for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The 2018-19 budget with an outlay of Rs648 billion, which also includes the estimates for the first four months of the fiscal year already authorised by the last caretaker government, carries a surplus of Rs30 billion.

No new provincial tax has been introduced in the budget proposals tabled by finance minister Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra in the provincial assembly.

The joint opposition staged a token walkout from the budget speech to protest the arrest of opposition leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif.

Speaker Mushtaq Ghani chaired the budget session.

Unlike the previous governments in the centre and three provinces, the last PTI-led coalition government was unable to present the annual budget before the July 25 general elections due to a lack of adequate number of MPAs. Political uncertainty had forced it to skip the budget.

Govt expects 30pc more receipts than last fiscal’s, earmarks 90pc uplift budget for ongoing projects

According to the budget estimates, the provincial government anticipates receiving Rs648 billion from various sources, which is almost 30 per cent higher than the actual receipts of the 2017-18 financial year.

Of the total budgeted revenue, Rs360 billion will be received from the federal tax assignments, Rs43.31 billion as compensation for war against terrorism, Rs22.324 billion on account of straight transfers, Rs25.293 billion as arrears of net hydel profit and Rs41.262 billion as own provincial receipts both tax and non-tax.

On revenue receipt, the government also plans to generate Rs115.364 billion on account of general capital and development receipt. Interestingly, the capital receipt contains Rs5 billion to be borrowed locally.

The budget proposals contain a general expenditure of Rs618 billion, which includes Rs430 billion for current expenditure, showing an increase of 10 per cent compared to the revised estimates for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

The revenue expenditure also includes Rs8 billion allocated for the repayment of loans and advances.

The Annual Development Programme has an outlay of Rs180 billion, which is 21 per cent more than the revised estimates of the last fiscal.

The development budget includes Rs109 billion from the provincial own resources and Rs71 billion from the foreign-funded development initiatives.

Of the total development budget, Rs80 billion will be spent on the development schemes on provincial level, while Rs29 billion has been allocated for the district development funds.

The ADP consists of total 1,376 development schemes, which includes 1,155 ongoing and 221 new projects. Almost 90 per cent of the development budget has been allocated for the ongoing projects with a view to reduce the throw forward liability of the overall development programme.

The finance minister also announced an allocation of Rs2 billion for special initiatives to be covered under the ruling PTI’s agenda for first 100 days in power, saying those measures will be executed through various instruments.

In the budget speech, Mr Jhagra told the house that the government had to take some harsh decisions, which would bear fruit in future.

“The country is at a crossroads and therefore, the present budget is unusual,” he said, adding that the budget had been prepared keeping in view the ground realities.

The minister alleged that the successive governments didn’t deliver until the people of KP elected the PTI to power in 2013.

He claimed that the government had prioritised education, health, law and order, construction, water and local government and allocated record funds for those sectors.

The minister said the improvement of financial management was under way, while 90 per cent of the total ADP had been allocated for ongoing schemes.

He said the provincial government would increase its revenue, improve development sector and reduce throw forward liabilities, which currently stood at the sixth year level.

The minister said the government had made 28 per cent increase in the budget for education sector, which was more than the other three provinces.

He said the budget for maintenance of law and order and justice had been increased to Rs62.5 billion from Rs54.5 billion.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018